


Altruistic

by lilacnightmares



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: Bathtubs, F/M, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Injury Recovery, Insecurities, Kissing, Longing, Love at First Sight, POV V | Kim Jihyun, Secrets, Supernatural Elements, cleaning wounds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:38:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24481378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilacnightmares/pseuds/lilacnightmares
Summary: Jihyun loved her more than anything else. But, she’s been hiding something from him for such a long time and when the secret is finally revealed, his heart aches for what she’s been suffering through alone.Work from Tumblr.
Relationships: V | Kim Jihyun/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 12





	Altruistic

It had been such a long time since Jihyun Kim had felt happiness. 

He couldn’t recall a moment in recent years up until the moment that he got with Brynn where he personally felt like everything was as it should be. He had always felt so lost, so blindsided, and so unsure of himself after his first real relationship. 

But, the instant that he opened himself up to change, his life was forever changed by a whirlwind of a woman with dark skin, eyes as deep as an endless valley, and a smile that could have swept even the sternest person off of their feet and into a soft mess. She helped him learn how to love himself and how to love others again. 

He would forever be indebted to her compassion, and to the level of sincerity that she had shown him. If it wasn’t for Brynn giving him the real strength to believe in himself, he wasn’t sure what may have become of himself and his loved ones. His life now compared to the one that he had been living months prior? 

So vastly different from each other that you might have thought that those lives did not belong to the same person. 

Yet, they did. 

It had been a quiet night, as Brynn had not stayed with him. He felt a cold emptiness in the bed where she would normally lay next to him but he understood why she had pulled away from him to take care of her personal business. He did his best to sleep the night away to the next morning so they could be together once again. 

Something did not feel right as he got out of bed and headed downstairs to grab himself some much-needed coffee after a restless night to get him going. He had only taken a sip when there was the sound of a door opening and then closing so quietly that you would think someone was trying to sneak inside without being noticed. 

V knew something was wrong when she came in through the door from the safety of the cell that she had warned him that she would be going into for all of the night prior until the sun rose and the moon was gone. She was normally so bright and chatty when she saw him and now she had tried to walk past the kitchen. 

He knew that something was not right because she had balled up her sweater around herself so tightly and avoided his eyes. 

He understood that she had no kind of control over the part of herself that transformed late at night during the dawn of the new moon, and he knew that she was scared of causing harm to others. It was to say, he knew that she did not want him to see her in that state. 

V did not judge her for things that were out of her control, she was beautiful, kind, caring, and the lost considerate person he had ever come to know and the only thing that was different about her was the fact that she would change into what she told him was a Werewolf. 

Learning that the supernatural is real had come as a real shock to him at the time but in true retrospect, he knew that secret agencies and underground groups existed for a reason and his connection with some of them came through his own father and the community of those that were determined to hide secrets from the common folk. 

It was still a bit of culture shock. 

Honestly, his surprise shouldn't have been as broad as it had been at the time but nevertheless, knowing that someone that he cared about was dealing with something that he could not even begin to imagine or empathize with, was hard for him in ways that he did not even know how to express at the time. 

Then again, how were you supposed to react when your girlfriend took your hands into her own and told you in a quiet voice that she had mystical abilities in her blood, and that there were more people like her out there, different classes of beings that all existed. She called herself a  _ Warg _ and said that her people were often mistreated and/or misunderstood. 

Brynn was never completely clear with him about everything that she had gone through in the past. She had told him only the basics and a few details that may or may not have slipped out of the cracks when she was having a panic attack or when she was caught in a triggering situation that she needed him to help her out of. 

He knew she hated small spaces, and he knew that she couldn't stand being contained in one tiny space. She longed for the open air, the endless valleys of the world at her fingertips, and the seas that have no ends. She did not want to be trapped in a room that kept her wings from spreading and her lungs away from fresh air. 

Her dreams of chasing the horizon were clear to anyone that knew Brynn. 

You would see it in her eyes when she smiled and giggled, pointing at a particular place in a book she was holding, mentioning how lovely it would be to see this spot in person. Books were her means of escape from whatever lingered at the ground, biting at her ankles. When she was not with him, her face was firmly tucked into a book. 

V would oftentimes smile when she pointed out something that had caught her attention so much that she couldn’t put it down, and inquire what had pulled her attention so strongly. It was one of the easiest ways to get her eyes to spark in such a beautiful way. 

He would have to be honest with himself and say that he purposefully got her to talk about what she looking at or reading just to hear the sound of her laughter in his ears. V felt the same way, as he longed to see the rest of the world and capture what he saw on something so that others could marvel at the beauty and splendor of the world. 

It was a love they shared and how they bonded so well. It was one of the first things that they ever talked about with each other and it stood strong, even now. 

_ “I want to see everything, I want to do everything, and I know that sounds really vague but it’s the only thing I’ve always wanted,” _ is what she said to him early one morning when the sun rose and she tucked her arms around him. 

V wanted to help her see that dream to fruition. 

However, it wasn’t something that was as simple as saying that you wanted to go somewhere and you had to means to go do it. He had more than enough money and work to ensure that she could have whatever she wanted and more because Brynn deserved the sun, the stars, and the moon if he had a say in things. 

The night of the full moon would always come and always go. 

Yet, she had insisted that she could not go anywhere but the safety of an incredibly locked room that night. Brynn said that when she was transformed… she had no awareness over herself in the way that she did when she was on two legs. The awareness that existed when she was a werewolf was different. 

_ Unruly _ . 

She didn’t want to put him in danger, she had said. V knew that she would never hurt him, and he had the utmost faith in Brynn, however, when she looked at him with those nervous eyes and said she had to go? 

He had no choice but to let her do what she thought was right at the moment to ensure that everything was okay. 

If that was what she thought was best—

He really had no choice but to let her go through with it. V was just starting to doubt in faith in that when she lifted her head just enough to catch his eyes. A weak smile crossed her lips and it seemed like her legs wobbled underneath her tattered leggings.

It seemed like she would fall over at any moment. He hurried to her side and caught her before her legs turned to jello and she leaned into his embrace despite how she wouldn’t truly look at him. “Brynn, are you okay?” 

“...I’m okay,” her voice was quiet. “I’m just really tired.” 

V lifted a hand to brush back the hair from her eyes and nearly winced when he noted there was a bit of a gash on her forehead.

It was the first of many harsh realizations are he looked over her body and saw little marks here and there. Even her fingers were a bit worn and frayed with dirt from possibly digging into the ground.

She was trying to hide it, but it looked like she had been put through a wringer during the night when she had been alone outside. It made tears nearly spring up in his eyes, but he tried to hold them back for her sake. 

“It’s not okay,” V quietly said. 

Brynn didn’t respond to that, but she did nod her head in confirmation. 

“I’ll help you get cleaned up, okay?” 

“...” 

That was how Brynn found herself curled up in the tub in warm water and bubbles that covered up anything that she didn’t want to show him. Her eyes on the wall in front of herself as Jihyun helped her clean some of the worst wounds. His hand was gentle as he patted down her forehead and removed most of the dried blood. 

Brynn couldn’t hide the wince in the back of her throat when he touched something that was a little bit tender but did not shy away from his touch. Her fingers gripped the edge of the tub as he worked. Her breath shallow and rising and falling from her chest in short intervals. 

“I’m sorry,” he murmured, sincerely. “We have to make sure that everything is clean, my love.” 

Brynn shook her head, “I know… I know. I’ve just not hurt myself this bad in such a long time…. I thought I could get through it, but I really did some damage.” 

He lowered the cloth from her face and set it down on the edge. Then, he gestured to try and sit up if she could, taking the time to separate the more worn portions of her hair that were frayed with blood and dirt. 

It took him a few minutes to untangle everything and rinse it out. It took a few times but he managed to complete it. 

“Brynn,” he said. 

She lifted her head and looked at him, his mint eyes fraught with worry. “You didn’t tell me that it could get this bad. If I had known that you were likely to do this to yourself, I wouldn’t have let you go through this alone.” 

“V, I  _ can’t  _ control myself during the full moon, you don’t understand,” she said, strongly. Her voice quivering and shaking as she tried to sound stern with him. “I don’t know what I’m doing, and I could  _ hurt  _ you. I locked myself up so that wouldn’t happen. But, when I’m like that… I… it takes me back to a place in my memories where I can only focus on trying to escape.” 

V reached over and pressed his hand against hers. It was a small touch, but it was a reminder that he was there with her and that he was not going to go anywhere. 

“You don’t have to tell me everything,” he said. “I don’t expect you to let me know everything that you’ve gone through all at once. But, what I do want to know is if you’re going to be safe going through this. I could have stayed with you all night if I knew that you were scared. I… I know you said that you aren’t aware of things when the full moon happens but you’re scared when you’re like that.” 

“You hate being confined and controlled, Brynn. I could have held your hand or sat with you so you knew that you weren’t alone, even if it took me a while to reassure you,” his voice was very sincere. “I love you and the last thing that I want is for you to feel like you have to go through something on your own.”

Brynn looked down. 

It seemed like she was weighing that thought long and hard. V loved her so much and just the idea that she spent her night smashing into bars over and over again, desperate to escape from something that haunted her so much made him feel sick. He knew that she was scared of hurting others but he worried for her own sake. 

She seemed to accept that this happened, but there had to be another way to get through this when it happened. It didn’t matter if it wasn’t this bad every time, it was clearly too much each and every time she went through it. 

If V could do anything to settle her nerves and make her feel at ease in her own skin, he would do it in a heartbeat and without question.

“...I’ve only ever done this,” Brynn replied, softly. “I didn’t think there was any other option for me to get through this.” 

V shook his head, “You’re the one that taught me that I didn’t have to keep going through the same thing over and over again, Brynn. Let me help you through this. I’m willing to do anything to ensure that you feel safe, be it during a full moon or not. If I have to sit with you all night long with my hand on you, then I will. I won’t hesitate.” 

Brynn knew that he was serious and that he would be there for her if she asked. 

They had been together for months now and had gone through so much that in the scheme of things, this seemed rather small compared to those events. It still weighed heavily on her mind. She didn’t want to put him in a position that he didn’t want.

That’s when she realized that she had been assuming that he wouldn’t love that side of herself as he did her human side. But, from that tender and longing look in those mint eyes… she knew that he would always love Brynn, no matter who she was or what she was. 

“You would be okay staying up all night with me?” she asked him, eyes looking over his face for any trace of concern. She could find nothing that made her stomach twist. “Even if that meant I may hurt you, inadvertently?”

“I’m always going to be here for you, Brynn, just as you’re always going to be here for me, is that not what you promised?” he murmured. “I know you’re scared, but we can work on this together if you’ll let me. It might take a few times to figure out what is right but we can make this less scary. I know we can.” 

V leaned over and brushed his lips against her own. It was chaste and sweet, not lasting more than a couple of seconds but it felt like it was the only thing that existed. Brynn did not know how she landed such a sweet man in her life, but she would be forever grateful for his loyalty to her heart. 

“I’m... “ she trailed off, “I’m still not sure about myself. But, if you really want to help me get through this. I’m… I’m willing to try when the next full moon comes, but only if you promise that you’ll stay from a safe distance.” 

He gazed into her eyes with steely determination. “I’ll do whatever it takes for you, Brynn.” 


End file.
